“When people say that the Bible and politics don't mix, I ask them which Bible they are reading.”

—  Desmond Tutu

‎Attributed but unsourced
Source: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/ActNow/blog/january-2015/Faith-and-politics-a-match-made-in-heaven.aspx
Source: https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/worshipandmusic/sermon-archive/anticipating-the-general-election

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When people say that the Bible and politics don't mix, I ask them which Bible they are reading." by Desmond Tutu?
Desmond Tutu photo
Desmond Tutu 85
South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Priz… 1931

Related quotes

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“Suppose then, that I do read this Bible honestly, fairly, and when I get through I am compelled to say, “The book is not true.””

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

If this is the honest result, then you are compelled to say, either that God has made no revelation to me, or that the revelation that it is not true, is the revelation made to me, and by which I am bound. If the book and my brain are both the work of the same Infinite God, whose fault is it that the book and the brain do not agree? Either God should have written a book to fit my brain, or should have made my brain to fit his book.
Some Reasons Why (1881)

Kent Hovind photo
Penn Jillette photo
Smith Wigglesworth photo

“Some people like to read their bibles in the Hebrew; some like to read it in the Greek; I like to read it in the Holy Spirit”

Smith Wigglesworth (1859–1947) British evangelist

Page 79
The Complete Story: A New Biography on the Apostle of Faith By Julian Wilson http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=e2RWZpOHfmoC|Wigglesworth:

Simon Munnery photo
Joyce Meyer photo
Helen Suzman photo

“You say your people brought the Bible over the mountains and ask what mine did. They wrote it, my dear.”

Helen Suzman (1917–2009) South African politician

As quoted in "A lone voice has been silenced" https://web.archive.org/web/20160913173321/http://hsf.org.za/siteworkspace/the-star-pg-11.pdf (2 January 2009), by Peter Sullivan, The Star

Cat Stevens photo

“The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention Leviticus 24:16.”

Cat Stevens (1948) British singer-songwriter

As quoted in "Cat Stevens Breaks His Silence," by Andrew Dansby in Rolling Stone (14 June 2000) http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/catstevens/articles/story/5927176/cat_stevens_breaks_his_silence; Leviticus 24:16 reads : "And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death."
Context: I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention Leviticus 24:16.

David Lynch photo

“I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.
I don't think I'll ever say what that sentence was.”

Eraserhead, p. 33
Catching the Big Fish (2006)
Context: Eraserhead is my most spiritual movie. No one understands when I say that, but it is.
Eraserhead was growing in a certain way, and I didn't know what it meant. I was looking for a key to unlock what these sequences were saying. Of course, I understood some of it; but I didn't know the thing that just pulled it all together. And it was a struggle. So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.
I don't think I'll ever say what that sentence was.

Related topics